A Life of Second Chances

Over the past few months a number of people I know have used the phrase “I feel lost.” They are dis-satisfied with their lives on some level and unsure, even unclear, about how to make things better. Giving someone advice in those situations really is not appropriate…who can know the right path for another?

Yet, this quote by H. G. Wells may help us better consider the possibilities.

Because sometimes you have to step outside of the person you’ve been, and remember the person you were meant to be, the person you wanted to be, the person you are.

Upon first reading, this statement may seem a bit confusing…but, is it really? As an example, think about an older child you have known, or maybe choose one of your own now-more-grown children. Remember how they were at the ages of 3 and 4 and 5, truely themselves. Now compare their personality as you remember them to how they are today.

At the core of themselves, what do you think — is it easy to sense that same sweetness or curiosity or budding intellect? Now, allow your thoughts to focus on what you perceive to be the differences between that time and now. As you consider that and, of course, wonder how they “got there” — isn’t it all just about life choices? Lifestyle, family influence, ethnic customs, religious beliefs, career expectations…and so much more?

As humans, we often tend to ignore the inner voices in our heads (doubting ourselves, thinking someone else knows better than we do) while consciously allowing ourselves to be influenced by so many aspects of the life around us. In fact, Life 101,like a college course, can really be very complicated after all. As young people growing into adulthood, unless we were blessed with an extraordinary mentor to guide us, we may not have realized how far we were straying from our true birth-selves until we made all the “mistakes” (as they say). When we finally stop to wonder, ‘what happened?’, it is sometimes so overwhelming we can feel diminished, demolished and maybe even so beaten down that we allow ourselves to take on a sense of hopelessness.

These stepping stones that we choose throughout our life indeed can be stressors that influence our health and our chemical make-up as well as vision and clarity about what is real. The myriad of emotions that swirl within our be-ing as we march through time take a toll upon our sense of overall wellbeing as a result. Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story for most of us. You see, there is this thing called second chances…and we get a pot full of them in this lifetime.

The path is going to look a little different now; we may even feel as if we are frequently doubling back. In fact, there is only forward. Although the look and feel and taste of our continuing journey may seem foreign at first, there is a knowingness underlying it all. And the process will call us out of our “old” selves to look more deeply into our unconscious as we seek that inner child at our core once again.

The good news is, we are not lost. We are still who we were — we are all still there beckoning our true selves to be One with the great I Am. All we have to do is remember. Simple? Probably not. Luckily for all of us, second chances allow us to begin again.